"Isn’t it true that you start your life a sweet child believing in everything under your father’s roof? Then comes the day of the Laocideans, when you know you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, and with the visage of a gruesome grieving ghost you go shuddering through nightmare life."(106)

Growing-up/Maturing: There is clearly a progression from innocence to experience being described in this quote, and that is a perfect example of the maturing and growing-up processes.

"What is the meaning of this voyage to New York? What kind of sordid business are you on now? I mean, man, whither goest thou? Whither goes thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night? Whither goest thou?" (119)

Discovery: The search for meaning and purpose in what one does clearly shows a self-discovery process. This quote is also significant because Carlo Marx also relates this question to all of America and not just himself.

"I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was- I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds." (15)

This quote ties into one of the main themes: self-discovery. It comes from Sal’s self-discovery stage. The key part where Sal says “[…] really didn’t know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds,” shows the depth of his isolation. By traveling around the United States, Sal is on a journey to figure out who he really is.

"That last thing is what you can't get, Carlo. Nobody can get to that last thing. We keep on living in hopes of catching it once for all." (48)

This quotes relates to two of the main themes: adventure/escape and growing-up/maturing. Sal is trying to get somewhere in life, and his travels lead to that road. He says to Carlo, “We keep on living in hopes of catching it once for all.” The “living” means adventure, the premise of the novel. And with adventure comes growth and development.

“Great Chicago glowed red before our eyes.” (239)

Relates to the theme of adventure and travel. Chicago represents promise and hope to Sal and it is also one of his many “final” destinations.

“I had to understand the impossible complexity of his life, how he had to leave me there, sick, to get on with his wives and woes.” (302)

Relates to the theme of growing up. Demonstrates Sal maturing because it is the point at which he realizes he does not need Dean any more. It is also the point where Sal reaches a deeper understanding of Dean’s character.

What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specs dispersing? - It’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies. (156)

This quote is about adventure / escape and about moving on and maturing. The narrator describes what it is like to leave a life behind. He describes the beginning of an adventure. He also relates to moving on and maturing because he describes the pain of leaving in order to move on.

As the cab honked outside and the kids cried and the dogs barked and Dean danced with Frankie I yelled every conceivable curse I could think over that phone and added all kinds of new ones, and in my drunken frenzy I told everybody over the phone to go to hell and slammed it down and went out to get drunk. (220)

This quote relates to the process of maturing. The narrator matures throughout out the book but this quote demonstrates a step back. On the road to maturing there are setbacks. The point is that one needs to accept these setbacks and still be able to persist and move forward.